Gravestones and Gender
Is there a marked difference in gravestone styles between the men and women interred at Calvary Cemetery? This was a question that I considered during the last lab assignment, in which my team and I analyzed more than 30 gravestones for diachronic stylistic changes. Since our preliminary analyses did not include a gender component, I proceeded to conduct my own. I wanted to know if there was a significant difference in the shape and material of gravestones between the sexes, and if this could be explained at all my previous gravestone seriation.
Frequency tables of material and shape by sex show some clear associations between gender and gravestone style. For example, men are more likely to have a horizontal slab or obelisk (34% and 10%) than women (at nearly 14% and 7%; table 1). If you are a women, you are more likely to have a gravestone made out of marble, while men are more likely to have a gravestone made out of granite (see table 2). Gravestones for men are more diverse in the material used, with 13% of male gravestones being limestone or stone, while the majority of female gravestones are limestone.
There is likely a correlation between temporal periods and the materials used, but the small sample size used for this lab limits any conclusions that could be drawn regarding diachronic stylistic changes for each sex.
Table 1. Gravestone shape by sex.
Shape
Sex 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
F 0.1379 0.0690 0.0345 0.0345 0.0000 0.0345 0.0000 0.0345 0.0345
M 0.3448 0.1034 0.0000 0.0000 0.0690 0.0345 0.0345 0.0000 0.0345
Table 2. Gravestone material by sex.
Material
Sex 1 2 3 4 5 6
F 0.0345 0.1724 0.0690 0.0345 0.0000 0.0690
M 0.1379 0.0690 0.2069 0.0345 0.0345 0.1379
Keys:
Shape
1 horizontal slab, 2 obelisk, 3 round column, 4 vertical slab, 5 square column, 6 tablet, 7 other, 8 pillow, 9 monument
Material
1 Limestone, 2 Marble, 3 Granite, 4 Mixed, 5 Slate, 6 Stone
